Tadej Pogačar best in clash of Tour de France champions

Tadej Pogačar proved best in the first real rematch with last year’s Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard on Wednesday, the Slovenian rider winning stage four of Paris-Nice and taking over race leadership.

Pogačar win the 2020 and 2021 Tours but was defeated last summer by Vingegaard. Wednesday’s race was their first big showdown since last year’s Tour and Vingegaard was first to fire on the final climb to La Loge des Gardes, launching a big attack which only Pogačar was able to follow.

The Tour champion backed off on his effort, with a chasing group able to return to them and David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) then launching a move.

Pogačar put in a huge surge soon afterwards, closing up to Gaudu. Vingegaard worked hard to inch closer but cracked following another surge by his big rival. Pogačar went on to win the stage ahead of Frenchman Gaudu, while Vingegaard slumped and finished only sixth, 43 seconds back.

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“I had good legs. I knew that we couldn’t give Gaudu too much so I decided to go all in to catch him, otherwise we wouldn’t win,” Pogačar said.

He said he was “a little bit surprised” that Vingegaard cracked. “First he launched the attack. I thought he was feeling super, super great so I didn’t counter. I was just waiting for the rest. In the end it was really tough and I think he just missed a little bit to catch me and then he cracked a little bit.”

Pogačar had started the day 11 seconds behind Vingegaard and admitted he was surprised to take over the race lead. “It was not in my mind to take yellow today. But you don’t say no to yellow. I am happy with yellow and it is nice to be back.”

Ireland’s Sam Bennett and Ryan Mullen kept their powder dry on an day which didn’t suit them, finishing well back and saving energy for Thursday’s likely sprint finish at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux. Bennett was second on the opening stage and will see Thursday and possibly Friday as an opportunity to try to land his second victory of 2023.

Meanwhile fellow Irish pro Eddie Dunbar underwent an operation on his fractured hand on Wednesday, five weeks after his crash in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. Dunbar hit the deck on what was his first – and so far only – day of competition this year and while he and the team had hoped that he would be largely recovered by now, that hasn’t proven to be the case.

He has been using a home trainer and while he tried training on the road recently, was forced to abandon such plans when it became clear his wrist had not recovered sufficiently.

It is hoped that he will be able to train on the road in two weeks’ time. If things go to plan his Jayco AlUla team told The Irish Times that he will return to competition at the Itzulia Basque Country stage race starting on April 3rd.

Dunbar’s climbing ability means that he is Ireland’s best prospect for Grand Tour success. He was due to lead the Jayco AlUla team in this year’s Giro d’Italia and while the squad still hopes he will line out at the start on May 6th, his injury and lack of racing mean that he likely won’t be in the same form as was initially envisaged.